Turkey season is quickly approaching. Hunters across the nation anticipate opening morning and prepare by checking their gear and practicing their calls. However, many of these same hunters never consider good conservation and land management practices as they prepare.

Mossy Oak founder, Toxey Haas, has a few words that may change prepping strategies for the upcoming hunting season.

“When we were first getting started, I was invited to speak at this seminar in a local sporting goods store,” Haas recalled. “They were asking us questions as a panel of hunting guys, I don’t think I belonged, but I was there.

“They would ask questions about calling and strategy hunting whitetails and what is most important to you. I was thinking I didn’t have much to say, and then it occurred to me what I thought was important. They asked me what I thought and I said, ‘My philosophy is I’m just a simple country boy from West Point, and I say if he ain’t there you can’t kill him.’ I just think you are wasting a lot of time if you don’t take care of this first.”

It’s pretty simple when you boil it down. It doesn’t matter how skilled you are or how great your gear is. If the trophy you seek does not live where you hunt, you will not be successful.

Luckily, industry leaders like Mossy Oak have seen a surge in conservation among avid outdoorsmen.

“The fun thing is, it has become a sport like deer hunting, golf, tennis, or football. The pinnacle of being an outdoors guy is not how big my truck is, but I got on my on tractor and built my own food plots and worked on my own property,” said Haas. “It has become a pastime and not just something you do because it is the right thing to do. It is, but now it is much more. It is so much more mainstream.”

While the trend moves forward, Haas challenges outdoorsmen to be committed to conservation. It’s not good enough to just discuss it.

“You can’t just talk about it, or write about it. You have to be conservation, not just because it is the right thing to do, of course it is, but it is the most fun thing and the most fulfilling thing to do,” Haas explains. “You just have to come to the conclusion this the foundation for everything we do, especially hunting. Without it, we don’t have anything.”

For the Mossy Oak family, nothing is more important than practicing conservation.